Torment Her (Rebels At Sterling Prep #5) - Caitlyn Dare Page 0,5
didn't want to go that far away in case she needs me.
A sad laugh rips from my lips. She doesn't need you. She doesn't even want you near her.
I tip the bottle to my mouth once more.
"Whoa, where did you get that?"
"James' office."
"Do you know how much a bottle like that costs?"
I shrug. "Don't care. How is she?"
"Hurting. Scared… lost."
I blow out a frustrated breath.
"It's going to take time, Conner."
"I don't want fucking time," I slur. "I just want..."
"I know, Con. Do you want to talk about her?"
I shake my head. I can't let myself go back there. I can't allow myself to think that we could ever be a possibility. She didn't want me back then, so why should I think now is any different?
"This is all my fault," I admit.
"How? This isn't on you, Con."
"I pushed her to him."
"What?"
“I…” I drop my head into my hands as I remember the day I told her she should give Warren a chance as clearly as if it were yesterday. It just so happens to be the day she crushed my heart and ruined me for anyone else.
"Did she say anything else? What happened? What he did?"
I glance over just in time to see a guilty look spread across her face. "Tell me, Hads. Please."
"Conner," she says, reaching out and taking my hand in hers. "I can't. What she told me, she told me in confidence. She needs friends right now, not more people she can't trust. You just need to—"
"Give her time," I mutter to myself. "I know, you said that already."
"It's the only thing you can do. You push too hard, and you might lose her for good. You want to help her, you need to do as she asks."
I blow out a long breath. "Well, you were a lot of fucking help," I grumble. It's meant to come out lighthearted, but from the pained expression on Hadley’s face, I fear I might have missed the mark.
"You need to sleep that off," she says, standing and plucking the almost empty bottle hanging from my hand.
"I would if I didn't have a girl in my bed who doesn’t even want to look at me."
She opens her mouth to respond, but I beat her to it. "Don't say it, Hads. Don't say it."
She gives me a small smile before slipping back inside the house, leaving me alone once again with my imagination, guilt, and anger.
Chapter Three
Kennedy
I feel like an exhibit at a zoo. First the doctor, then Conner and Remi. Then another girl called Hadley tried to talk to me. She knew my secret. I don’t know if Remi told her or she could just sense it, but I saw the sympathy in her eyes, the understanding.
It didn’t make me want to open up, though.
It made me want to crawl under the bed sheets and never resurface.
I don’t want to be here.
I don’t want to be here, and yet I have nowhere else to go.
That’s what my life has come to.
I turn my head and take a shuddering breath. What I really want is a hot shower and some clean clothes, but it’s late, and my body is beginning to shut down.
When I hear another knock at the door I brace myself for Conner’s face, but it isn’t Conner at all.
It’s his father.
James Jagger.
The guy who takes in waifs and strays like he’s the Pied Piper of Sterling Bay.
“Can we talk?”
“It’s your house.” I shrug as he slips inside.
The door clicks shut, the sound reverberating through me.
“I debated giving you some more time, but I figured I should probably introduce myself. I’m—”
“James, yeah. I know who you are.” It comes out cold, but he remains unaffected. I suppose moving Ace, Cole, and Conner into his house and revealing that he was their father instead of the piece of shit they grew up with had toughened his skin.
The Jagger brothers aren’t exactly an easy bunch to win over.
“Conner tells me the two of you are friends.”
“Were,” I correct. “We were friends.”
“You live with your aunt in the Heights?”
My jaw clenches as I try to swallow down the flash of pain. “She, uh... she died. Right before the summer.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. Where do you live now?” My brows furrow, and he smiles. “Sorry, I don’t mean to question you like this. I’m just concerned. You’re a minor still, Kennedy, and I want to know you’re safe.”